Crisis Management For Veterinarians

To prepare for the intentional and unintentional introductions of animal diseases into the nation's food production pathway, Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman has announced the release of an informational compact disc aimed at veterinarians and other first responders following possible animal disease outbreaks.
The CD is designed to ensure federal, state and private veterinarians have immediate access to information following a foreign animal disease outbreak so they will be better prepared to respond.

Entitled “Food Security: The Threat to American Livestock,” the CD was developed through Auburn University as part of a nationwide effort by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to ensure the safety of all animal and plant products processed through the nation’s food distribution centers. It is part of an extensive APHIS-sponsored effort to ensure its readiness to detect and respond to terrorist events involving plant or animal pathogens. Veterinarians and related professionals were specifically targeted because of the role they would play in such a crisis.

It’s All Relative With Fruits and Vegetables

All fruits and vegetables are healthy, but some are healthier than others.

Susie Nanney, acting director of the Obesity Prevention Center at Saint Louis University, has researched the issue and concluded that people aren’t eating fruits and vegetables offering the optimal levels of nutrients.
Her research, published in the March issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, offers the following color-coded advise to consumers regarding healthy eating:
• White: Eat cauliflower more often than potatoes, onions and mushrooms.
• Green: Eat more dark lettuces, such as romaine and red leaf lettuce, spinach, broccoli and Brussels sprouts instead of iceberg lettuce and green beans.
• Yellow/orange: Instead of corn or bananas, eat more carrots, winter squashes, sweet potatoes, cantaloupe, oranges and grapefruit.
• Red: Choose tomatoes, red peppers and strawberries over apples.

Wrong Signal On Biotech

Dr. Henry I. Miller, a physician and Hoover Institution fellow, takes issue with an EPA proposal to monitor transgenic corn from space. He believes the policy not only is ill-conceived but will energize opposition to a technology that already has benefited the environment in a myriad of ways.
“EPA’s policy toward gene-spliced plants is so potentially damaging and outside the norms of sound science that it has galvanized the scientific community. A consortium of dozens of scientific societies representing more than 180,000 biologists and food professionals published a report warning the policy will discourage the development of new pest-resistant crops and prolong and increase the use of synthetic chemical pesticides, increase the regulatory burden for developers of pest-resistant crops, limit the use of biotechnology to larger developers who can pay the inflated regulatory costs, and handicap U.S. companies competing in international markets. All of these warnings have been borne out by the facts.”

Fructose Sweetener: A Factor Behind Obesity Spike?

Researchers believe they may have found a major culprit behind the huge spike in obesity: fructose sweetener, a corn product used to sweeten soft drinks and food since the 1970s.

Data accumulated by these researchers show the increase in the use high-fructose corn sweeteners in the late 1970s and 1980s corresponded with the rapid rise in obesity, said Dr. George A Bray, one of the researchers and an obesity expert with the Louisiana State University System’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center. Still, he noted the research does not establish a conclusive link.

High fructose remains a controversial food additive primarily because of what scientists know about how it is processed by the body. Unlike glucose, a major component in table sugar, fructose doesn't trigger responses in hormones that regulate energy use and appetite. That means it's more likely to be converted into fat, the researchers said.

Vanishing Forestland

More evidence of unrelenting suburban sprawl: North Carolina forestland is vanishing almost twice as fast as forestry experts expected, with more than 1-million acres absorbed through development since 1990.

Forests cover more than 18.3 million acres in North Carolina, roughly 59 percent of the state’s land --- five-percent less than in 1990.

This represents the least amount of forest acreage since the 1930’s, when forestland was cleared for agriculture. But don’t expect this land to revert to forestland as it did in the 1930’s, experts say. Once forestland is converted into subdivisions, shopping centers and offices, it stays that way.

Thinking Out of the Ocean

Here’s the challenge: People are eating much more fish, but reports indicate that wild fish resources have reached a plateau. That has forced aquaculturists to think out of the box – or out of the ocean, in this case – by developing new ways to farm fish.

One especially unique example is a fish tank in Fort Pierce where Pompano, a saltwater fish, coexists with its freshwater cousin, tilapia.

Researchers hope new technology not only will enable farmers to do this more profitably and efficiently but will offer the added advantage of helping many them expand their operations and even convert acreage from less profitable pursuits.

Stalled WTO Ag Talks

The way to breathe life into stalled World Trade Organization agricultural talks, trade officials say, is to build a framework for a deal. Otherwise, they fear, 2004 could turn out to be a wasted year.

The fact that 2004 is an election year for many WTO countries only compounds the problem.

Agriculture remains the biggest stumbling block in WTO negotiations to complete a new binding treaty on reducing import tariffs and other barriers to free international trade among the 146 WTO members.

The crux of the problem involves a call by developing nations to halt the $1-billion-dollar-a-day farm subsidies paid by affluent Western countries --- subsidies, they claim, provide Western farmers with an unfair advantage over their counterparts in developing countries.

For their part, Western countries want to see developing countries to reduce input duties on agricultural products and manufactured goods.

Eroding Brainpower, More Vitamin Fortification

The brainpower of entire nations has eroded. The problem: a shortage of the right vitamins. The solution: enriched foods, according to the United Nations.

The UN is prescribing a whole array of artificially fortified foods: soy sauce with zinc, “super salt” spiked with iron, cooking oil fortified with vitamin A.

Deficiencies of these vitamins are having an alarming effect in many developing countries, even in those where people usually have enough to eat, claims the UN.

Wide Open Trade

Canadian Ag Minister Bob Speller says his American counterpart has assured him the decision on resuming live cattle trade with Canada will be based on science rather than politics.

The question most Canadians are asking: When will this decision be made?

A public comment on dropping the current U.S. ban is scheduled to end April 7. Then U.S. agriculture officials will view what they’ve received.

Canadians argue that a rapprochement on this issue would offset a lot of the trouble from other trading partners who halted the beef trade following the BSE detections in Canada and the United States.

Help On The Way?

American Farm Bureau Federation is confident that comprehensive energy legislation pending in Congress will ease high energy prices impacting Americans, particularly farmers.

The legislation would boost domestic energy supplies by focusing on further development of renewable resources such as ethanol, biodiesel and wind, while at the same time increasing supplies of domestic traditional energy sources such as natural gas, oil and coal.

Testing Brouhaha

Creekstone Farms meat packing plant in Arkansas City, KS, is the focus of a growing dispute between some meat packers and the USDA.

Assured by the Japanese that they would resume purchases of their products if they adopt rigid BSE-related standards, Creekstone Farms aspires to be the first producer in the United States that tests every cow for BSE (so-called mad cow disease).

USDA counters that the effort not only is expensive but unnecessary.

Perception Trumps Reality --- Again

Once again, perception trumps reality: Despite all of the fretting over food safety following the recent discoveries of BSE, chicken flu and tainted tuna, the incidence of food-borne illness continues to decline.

In 2002, for example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a 23-percent overall decrease in bacterial food-borne illnesses since 1996.

Even so, restaurants are dealing with a torrent of food safety-related concerns.

"Food safety issues used to come up once or twice a year, but now they are almost weekly," said Steven Grover, vice president of health and safety regulatory affairs for the National Restaurant Association. "We now have 24-7 news coverage. Many hazards put forth aren't really hazards at all when you look at the context but they are shocking and unusual."

The real irony is that the things that are most likely to make you sick draw scant attention from the media, largely because the “aren’t as exotic,” he said.

"Salmonella is the number one food borne killer, but that's not getting headlines," Grover said. "The ones that get reported in the news media aren't anywhere near the top. Unfortunately salmonella isn't sexy or isn't new."

Honoring A Visionary

Who saved more lives than anyone else in the world? Norman Borlaug, 1970 Nobel Laureate and father of the Green Revolution.

Former President Jimmy Carter, George McGovern and scientists throughout the world are joining the AgBioWorld Foundation in celebrating the 90th birthday of this eminent scholar.

"Dr. Norman Borlaug was the father of the Green Revolution that transformed much of the hungry Third World," said former senator George McGovern. "Dr. Borlaug's scientific leadership not only saved people from starvation, but the high-yield seeds he bred saved millions of square miles of wildlife from being plowed down. He is one of the great men of our age."

The AgBioWorld Foundation has compiled a series of links outlining major milestones in Borlaug’s life.

Trade Harmonization Now!

Fully restoring the North American cattle and beef trade following BSE detections in the United States and Canada will require these two countries and Mexico to step up efforts to harmonize beef trading rules.

That is the conclusion of the American Meat Institute and five other North American meat industry groups.

Leaders of the six groups cosigned a letter to cabinet-level ministers of all three countries commending their governments for their initial efforts at harmonization but urging that the process be given the highest priority.

“The North American beef industry is best served by eliminating technical barriers to trade. Each country has a sovereign right to establish regulations to ensure food safety and protect animal health, but too often those regulations are inconsistent with the Office of International Epizootics (OIE) standards and scientific rationale,” the groups wrote. “We agree with rules that are based on scientifically sound BSE control measures that protect animal health and public health, rather than precautionary rules that inhibit trade and impose unnecessary costs on a country’s citizens and its industries.”

Global Agriculture: The Big Picture

A meeting held recently in Billings, Montana, highlighted the tangled web of agricultural policies with which American farmers will be dealing within the next few years: free trade with Australia; an integrated beef market with Canada; and drastic changes in current European Union agricultural policies.

The meeting, sponsored by the National Farmers Union, drew more than 500 members from 45 states.

A synopsis of the discussion by four international trade experts…

Free trade with Australia will offer many opportunities for Australian and American farmers alike. Much like their American counterparts, Australian producers are having a tough going earning profits from major commodities such as wool, wheat, cotton, beef and dairy. But unlike American farmers, they have no farm bill and need a world market to remain profitable.

Meanwhile, Canadian cattle producers maintain that an integrated beef market has always benefited growers on both sides of the border --- something lost following detection of BSE in Canadian herds.

Finally, the European Union is contemplating a major shift in farm policy --- a greater emphasis on decoupling, single farm payments and freedom-to-farm-type principles.

As EU policy makers see it, progress in trade negotiations will depend on whether the United States and other developed countries are willing to address all forms of export subsidization --- “including subsidized export credits and food aid as a surplus disposal mechanism,” said Jean-Marc Trarieux, agricultural attache of the delegation of the European Commission to the United States.

Calorie-Restricted Diets: The Evidence Mounts

Research continues to show that calorie-restricted diets not only extend life but may even benefit people who adopt these diets comparatively late in life.

A study of mice at the relatively advanced age of 19 months reveals that those placed on a calorie-restricted diet lived 42 percent longer than litter mates who continued to eat a standard diet.

Stephen R. Spindler of the University of California, Riverside, researcher who led the study, said there is not yet sufficient evidence to show that dietary restrictions can extend human life. Nevertheless, at least among mice, sensible eating even at older ages clearly has a longevity benefit. A 19-month-old mouse, he said, is the age equivalent of 60 to 65 years in humans.

Dieting Via The Internet

Using the internet as a source of dieting information has exploded in recent years. It’s especially popular among people who lack the time to interact face-to-face with other dieters.

Still, while tens of thousands of Americans have benefited from this comparatively new and convenient source of information, nutrition experts are still concerned it may not be an adequate substitute for person-to-person weight counseling.

There’s also the added challenge of accountability.

"When people are trying to make major lifestyle changes, information typed on a page may only go so far for certain people," said Cynthia Sass, a Tampa, Fla.-based registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.

AU: A Major Hub Of BSE Testing?

Auburn University could become a major major hub in a nationwide effort to monitor the nation’s cattle herd for presence of BSE, so-called mad cow disease. If a proposal by Alabama Congressman Mike Rogers passes muster, the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries will receive a $2-million grant toward upgrading Auburn’s livestock testing facility.

Auburn University was selected as a prospective recipient of the grant because of its extensive research in animal sciences.

"Upgrading Auburn's research center is a common sense approach to better protecting the nation's food supply, and an efficient solution to a pressing national priority," Rogers said in a press release.

Staving Off A Nightmare

In what is described as a nightmare come true, plant pathologists are trying to halt the spread of a fungus that already has killed tens of thousands of oak trees in California. They’ve discovered that a southern California nursery has shipped potentially infected plants to more than 600 nurseries in 39 states.

"We're dealing with a significant emergency," says Steve Lyle, a spokesperson for the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). As many as a dozen more nurseries in southern California are probably infected.

Since 1995, large numbers of tanoaks (Lithocarpus densiflorus), coast live oaks (Quercus agrifolia) and black oaks (Quercus kelloggii) have been dying in California's coastal counties. The epidemic, referred to as Sudden Oak Death, was first seen on tanoak in Mill Valley (Marin County) in 1995. Since then, it has been confirmed in twelve central coastal counties.

Limits On Tuna

The federal government is now advising pregnant and nursing women and young children to eat only limited amounts of canned albacore “white” tuna because of the potential risk of mercury exposure associated with the fish.

The advice is in response to the latest research showing that mercury concentrations are slightly higher in large albacore species than the smaller skipjack or “chunk light” tuna. The government advises segments of the population at highest risk to consume no more than six ounces a week of albacore tuna.

Starting Early With Osteoporosis Prevention

Millions of young American women don’t not consider osteoporosis a pressing issues until they reach their sixties. However, as many of them learn – often too late – the beginnings of this potentially crippling disease start at around age 30.

Experts say young women should take precautions now to reduce their risk. Each year, 1.5 million people are hospitalized from fractures related to osteoporosis, and 15 to 20 percent die of complications related to the disease.

Farm Bureau Endorse Free Trade Agreements

The American Farm Bureau Federation has given its thumbs up to two free trade agreements, claiming one offers especially important benefits to American farmers.

Farm Bureau trade experts say the Central American free trade agreement will be especially advantageous to U.S. farmers.

“Our economic analysis shows that there’s nearly a $900 million gain for U.S. agriculture in the Central American market,” said AFBF trade specialist Chris Garza.

While conceding that a similar pact with Australia does not offer the same boost, Garza believes that the agreement will benefit the U.S. economy in other ways.

The United States already is Australia’s second largest trading partner after Japan, with two-way merchandise trade valued at $18-billion in 2001-02. An economic benefit model prepared last fall for the Australian government revealed that net benefit in consumption and production for Australia during the next couple of decades would be almost $26 billion dollars and slightly more than $27 billion for the United States.

The Future In A Can?

Jim Farmer, a long-time cattle producer, sees the future of livestock production in 14-oz cans of ready-to-eat beef.

Farmer has joined forces with about three dozen other beef producers, including family members, to create a co-op that seeks to turn about 1,000 cattle a year into canned beef --- very special beef.

“The unique thing about this product is that there is only one ingredient --- beef,” said Mark Uthlaut, one of Farmer’s coop partners.

The product is free of both water and preservatives --- no worries about safety either, thanks to a rigorously strict canning process that rids each can of potentially harmful pathogens.

"Our goal is to make an opportunity in agriculture for all of my descendants, if they choose," said Farmer, 64. "Something like this could help make that happen."

A Win/Win for Growers and Farm Workers?

Whether President Bush’s guest-worker program ever passes muster in Congress is still open to debate. However, a similar bill, which has garnered a strong bipartisan following in both houses merits closer inspection, supporters say.

Supporters of the Agricultural Job Opportunity Benefits and Security Act, better known as AgJobs, argue that the bill would solve an immediate problem facing U.S. growers: the critical shortage of legal workers.

Under the bill, illegal immigrants already working in agriculture could earn legal status. However, they would have to continue working in the fields for a certain number of days for at least three more years before being eligible for residency. The bill also provides better protections for workers who are sometimes exploited by unscrupulous growers, directly or through labor contractors, supporters say.

Green Industry Expo

Organizers of the second annual Green Industry Expo, held recently at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, say it was a huge success. Almost 350 people attended the Educational Seminar and Trade Show sponsored by the Jefferson County Extension Office and co-sponsored by the Greater Birmingham Association of Landscape Professionals.

The expo featured speakers from 3 states. Twelve local horticulture and turf vendors also displayed their products at the trade show.

The event attracted landscapers, parks and recreation workers, golf course superintendents, Master Gardeners and Extension agents from 14 Alabama counties.

Organizers of the event said the expo highlighted a sector in agriculture that impacts a large percentage of Alabama’s population, especially in urban areas, and that will receive increasing emphasis throughout Jefferson and surrounding counties.

More Bison, More “Flexitarian” Lifestyles

The growing mania for high-protein diets coupled with a demand for healthier foods has been a boon for the nation’s bison producers.

The commercial bison slaughter last year was a record 34,444 animals, according to USDA figures --- a 36-percent increase from last year, though still a drop in the bucket compared with cattle.

A major factor behind this trend: Media Mogul Ted Turner. Many consumers are getting their first taste of buffalo compliments of his restaurant chain. In the two years since the chain was launched, 19 restaurants have opened in Ohio, Georgia, Tennessee, Colorado, Kentucky and North Carolina. Another 18 are slated to open this year.

Bison producers may also profit from another trend that apparently is being fueled by the same demands for high-protein fare and healthier eating: flexitarianism, a sort of quasi-vegetarianism. More consumers adopting near-vegetarian diets without completely giving up their passion for meat.

“Sometimes I feel like I’m a bad vegetarian, that I’m not strict enough or good enough,” said Christy Pugh 28-year-old flexitarian bookkeeper. “I really like vegetarian food but I’m just not 100 percent committed.”

Farmers: Optimistic, But Hedging Their Bets

Despite BSE concerns, cutthroat competition and a host of other challenges, the nation’s young farmers expressed an unprecedented high level of optimism regarding their future in agriculture, though they are concerned about profitability and believe government should do more to help young people starting out in farming.

The 12th annual survey of participants in the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Young Farmer and Ranger Program revealed that 81 percent of the respondents expressed optimism about agriculture than five years ago – up more than 20 points from last year and the highest level of optimism since the survey was begun in 1993.

One other trend: Farmers, in increasing numbers, are going back to school. The USDA’s Economic Research Service reports that farmers are going back to school not only to develop business and technological skills to survive in an increasingly competitive industry but also to hedge their bets in case they can’t make a living in farming.

“Given the financial challenges, and the risks involved (in farming), there's just a lot of parents that want their kids, if they are going to come back, to at least get a college education and training, so that if it doesn't work out on the farm, they've got a backup plan,'' said John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union

Suburbanization Continues Apace In Florida

There is no end in sight to the steady onslaught of suburbanization in the Sunshine State. Spreading suburbs are expected to gobble up an additional 3-million acres of land by 2020, a University of Florida expert predicts.

Roughly one-third of the losses are projected to take place in Florida’s most populated counties, where fast-growing cities are spilling over into some of the state’s most productive agricultural land.

For the past two decades, John Reynolds, a professor emeritus of agricultural economics at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, has conducted an annual survey of agricultural land values across the state. He’s discovered that the hottest agricultural properties have always been the “transition” lands – agricultural parcels that have caught the eye of developers seeking locations for new neighborhoods or shopping centers.

Ban On Chicken Antibiotic Upheld

An administrative law judge has upheld the Food and Drug Administration’s decision to ban an antibiotic used to treat chickens because it was making human antibiotics less effective.

The drug Baytril, manufactured by Bayer Corp., was ordered off the market in 2000 along with another poultry medication in an effort to limit the spread of antibiotic resistance that enables bacteria to become impervious to drugs they regularly encounter. The FDA targeted the two antibiotics because they are close relatives to a popular family of drugs used to treat human disease.

Brazil Beckons?

Alberta farmer Rick Stankman is one of many North American farmers who returned home disturbed after a Brazilian farm tour --- perhaps even a little disillusioned.

But he was also enticed --- so enticed, it seems, that he may join a growing number of farmers across the United States and Canada who are relocating to this budding South American farming superpower.

Strankman’s thoughts are highlighted along with those of other producers in a series on Brazilian farming featured by Western Producer, a Canadian farm publication.

A New Role For Extension Agents?

Cooperative Extension agents will have a major role to play in the post-9/11 struggle against bioterrorism.

Kansas State University has received a $450,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service to train the nation’s Cooperative Extension agents and crop advisors to diagnose irregularities in field crops.

The federal government’s decision to fund such training was prompted by the post-9/11 possibility that terrorists could damage the food supply by introducing biological pathogens.

Back Burner, For Now --- But Not Going Away

The national debate over meat packer ownership has been put on the back burner for now, due to a spate of court cases and BSE concerns, but it is not going away.

Recent litigation that supporters and opponents consider a bellwether of debate is the recent jury ruling in favor cattle producers who sued Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc. over contracts and captive supply.

“I think this is a really exciting case . . . to the packer ownership argument,” says Mindy Larson Poldberg, director of national affairs for the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation.

“If it stands, it would prove that packer ownership does affect prices.”

Interestingly, regionalism figures into the equation. One reason the packer ban is moving so slowly through the halls of Congress, some observers say, is because the measure is less popular in the South, and Southern lawmakers head both the House and Senate Agricultural Committees.

A Very Smart Chip

bioMerieux, a French biological diagnostics company, has developed a DNA chip that will detect what meat is in a menu item or whether a vegetarian meal is actually free of animal products.

The chips isn’t aimed at consumers but at the food and animal feed industries in the United States and Europe that must follow increasingly stringent rules to account for what actually comprises their products.

The chip is designed to detect 33 species of animals in food.

Smaller Footprints

Roger N. Beachy, president of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Missouri, offers this example of how the widespread adoption of transgenic technology has enabled producers to shrink their environmental footprints.

"As a result of these advances, farmers that produce these crops can do so without resorting to the use of the large amounts of chemical sprays that have been part of our highly productive agricultural practices for more than 40 years. It has been estimated, based on recent scientific data, that genetically modified potatoes that carry genes for resistance to Colorado potato beetle and for virus resistance nearly 3 million pounds; 1,500 tons) of chemical insecticides. The savings of insecticides in cotton and corn are far larger. If similar research efforts were undertaken on all of the major fruits and vegetables produced in this country, the reduction in the amount of pesticides used by the farmer that find their way into the soil, water, and air, and that can remain in some grocery produce, would be truly staggering."

Meanwhile, writing in the Sunday Times, Charles Pasternak, director of the Oxford International Biomedical Centre, believes genetically-modified herbicide-resistance isn’t that important to developed countries such as the UK, “which can indulge in their particular choice of agriculture: organic, conventional or GM.” But for many underdeveloped regions of the world, most notably drought-stressed Africa, the use of the technology boils down to a life or death proposition.

"Nowhere are herbicide-resistant crops, coupled with the use of cheap weedkillers, needed more than in sub-Saharan Africa, where 40,000 people — half of them children — are dying from malnutrition daily. We should be helping them by developing and promoting the relevant GM crops, not hindering their salvation by unjustified criticism of the technology."

Expanded BSE Testing

USDA is planning a ten-fold increase in the number of cattle tested for BSE, so-called mad cow disease --- part of the department’s ongoing efforts to safeguard the U.S. beef supply following the first detection of BSE in the United States last December.

The department plans to test more than 221,000 animals during a 12- and 18-month period beginning in June.

The cost of this testing, which is intended to be a one-time-only effort, is projected at $70-million. The widespread testing was prompted by the recommendations of an international scientific panel appointed a week after the first BSE case was detected in Washington state.

Domestic critics of current USDA efforts are still not satisfied. Felicia Nestor, food safety director for the Government Accountability Project, a watchdog group, said the new testing is no guarantee animals with BSE won't enter the food supply.

Defining Low Carb

Food processors are jockeying for a share of the low-carb market. But the question remains: Just what constitutes a low-carb product?

The FDA plans to weigh in with its own definition. It will determine how many carbohydrates are allowed for a food to be advertised as a low- or reduced-carb product.

It’s all part of an effort “demystify the current confusion about carbohydrates," says FDA Deputy Commissioner Lester Crawford, who expects a substantial number of products will have to change their labels as a result.

A Type II Diabetes Link In India

The prevalence of type II diabetes is spiking in countries such as India, and researchers now think they know why.

The increase is particularly seen in people who have low birth weights and subsequently become obese as adults. Researchers previously have attributed this trend to nutritional transition that encompasses increased availability of food, reduced physical activity, and increases in obesity. Now they believe the problem can be traced all the way back to the womb.

They uncovered an association between impaired glucose tolerance and diabetes in young adulthood for children born with a low birth weight. If a low birth weight child crosses into higher categories of weight after age 2, they are at an increased risk for the disease, they discovered.

The Coming of the "Uber-Fish"

It looks innocent enough –- actually, a lot like common Atlantic salmon. But unlike its cousin, it’s been transgenically altered with ocean pout genes, meaning that it won’t freeze in waters that would be deadly to other species. It also grows five times faster than normal salmon.

Environmentalists claim that in the event of the fish’s escape into the wild, it would threaten oceanic biodiversity by out-producing and ultimately crowding out normal salmon as well as many other wild species, many of which already are endangered.

Nonsense claim developers of the transgenic fish. Biotechnological advances such as these, they say, actually will enable fish farmers to shrink their footprint on the environment.

Whatever the case, the transgenic salmon are at the center of the latest ranging debate on the merits of biotech.

The World’s Next Bread Basket?

“The road to the future breadbasket of the world does not go through America's heartland,” writes Kevin Diaz, Washington Bureau chief for the Modesto Bee. “It's being paved instead through the heartland of Brazil's Mato Grosso state, where vast stretches of new farmland can be had for $150 an acre, and good farmhands are happy to make $1 an hour.”

Brazil, long a leading exporter of sugar, citrus and coffee, is also emerging as the world’s leading low-cost producer of common farm commodities such as cattle and corn. Indeed, Brazil already boasts the world’s largest commercial cattle herd and is closing the gap with the United States in corn production. In soybean production, Brazilian producers already excel.

American farmers are crying foul, claiming the nation’s cheap land, low wages and inconsistent regulatory structure give Brazilian producers an unfair edge.

Cracking Down On Andro

The Food and Drug Administration is cracking down on a controversial supplement known as andro --- a natural steroid that is dangerous to user’s long-term health.

Twenty-three companies that make or distribute the product already have received warning labels. The FDA vows to act aggressively against any company that continues selling it.

Andro, short for androstenedione, is the supplement that retired St. Louis Cardinals superstar slugger Mark McGwire admitted using in 1998. His athletic record led many other athletes, including millions of teens, to use it as a performance enhancer.

Just because a product is "natural" and is used regularly by a sports superstar doesn't mean it's safe, says Dr. Robert Keith, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System nutritionist and Auburn University professor of nutrition and food science.

"The only difference between synthetic and natural steroids is synthetic steroids have been made in a laboratory and chemically altered in some way," says Keith.

What most people don't know is that natural steroids may produce many of the same side effects as synthetic hormones, including impaired bone-length growth, liver damage and an increased risk of hormone-related cancers, such as prostate and breast cancer, later in life.

Androstenedione is classified as a "precursor," which means the body converts it directly into testosterone. Highertestosterone levels are prized among quick-burst athletes because it enables them to train harder and recover quicker.

Easier-To-Read Food Labels

The federal government is taking aim at what has become a Tower of Babel for millions of American supermarket shoppers.

In an effort to stem the rising tide of American obesity, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it will revise labels on food packages to make it easier for consumers to monitor their caloric intake.

The agency also plans to crack down on companies whose products carry deceptive food labels.

“Far too many Americans are literally eating themselves to death,” said Human and Health Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson. “The epidemic of obesity threatens the health of millions of Americans.”

Alabama’s Role In Cuba’s Transformation

“When the (Cuban trade) embargo is lifted -- and I believe it is now a matter of when rather than if -- Alabama and the rest of the South will play a critical role in Cuba's transformation,” said Dr. Diego Gimenez, Alabama Cooperative Extension System animal scientist and Auburn University associate professor of animal and dairy sciences.

Though Cuba remains a predominantly agricultural country, it has a strong need for many of the commodities grown in the South --- cotton, grain, poultry and eggs and beef and pork. Timber, another commodity Alabama possesses in abundance, is another crucial requirement. When the opening occurs, Gimenez predicts the port of Mobile will become a major hub in Cuban-American trade.

Threatened Birds

Birdlife International, a worldwide watch group, blames unchecked agricultural expansion and unsustainable forestry for the impending extinction of roughly one out of every eight of the world’s birds.

About 1,211 species face extinction, the organization claims. Of these 179 species are critically endangered, 344 face very high risk of extinction and 688 are listed as vulnerable.

Regions with especially high densities of threatened species include the tropical Andes, Atlantic forests of Brazil, the eastern Himalayas, eastern Madagascar and the archipelagos of south-eastern Asia.

Nafta Watchdog Group Opposes Spread of American Transgenic Corn

The trilateral Commission for Environmental Cooperation, a Nafta Watchdog group, claims that if left unchecked, genes spread from American biotech corn have the potential of contaminating or replacing the native ancestor varieties in Mexico, the birthplace of corn.

The findings of a study conducted by the commission raise concerns that gene transfers could damage Mexico's vast storehouse of native corn, whose wild ancestral genes might one day be needed to help commercial crops overcome diseases or adverse conditions.

Mexico declared a moratorium on genetically modified corn in 1998, making it illegal to grow anywhere outside licensed laboratories. However, Amanda Galvez, head of the Mexican government's interagency group on biosafety and genetically modified organisms, points to a study of 188 corn-growing communities across Oaxaca state, which revealed that 7.6 percent of plants tested positive for genetic modification in 2001.

More Calories In Middle School

The switch from elementary to middle school is a rite of passage that often translates into poor nutrition.

A study of almost 600 fourth- and fifth-graders from a southeast Texas school district from 1998 to 2000 revealed that consumption of fruits, non-fried vegetables and milk dropped by one-third or more after children entered middle school. Students also ate between 62 and 68 percent more French fries and sweetened beverages than in elementary school.

One of the primary culprits appears to be the grazing that occurs at snack bars. Few elementary schools offer snack bars, though they are common features in many of the nation’s middle and high schools.

It is a routine repeated day in and day out at many of the nation’s middle and high schools.

“So widespread are sugary soft drinks and high-fat snacks on campus that what children eat at school has become a focus of the debate over how to reverse an alarming increase in overweight and obese youths,” writes Aleta Waton, a reporter for the San Jose Mercury News.

Large Farm Debate in Vermont

An incident in Vermont speaks volumes about American farming, it’s struggle to remain competitive, and it’s increasing challenge from urban sprawl.

For the better part of two centuries, much of the land surrounding the home of Ricka McNaughton has been invested in farming, where livestock, crops and fertilization are a way of life.

Farm and non-farm residents have peacefully coexisted until now. However, a dispute over drinking water quality threatens this peaceful coexistence --- one that underscores the realities facing 21st century American farming. McNaughton and other residents believe the drinking water problem can be traced to the consolidation of smaller farms into large farms --- a merger that is taking place in order for the farms to remain competitive.

The Debate Rages

Another example of how global competition is driving the American farming debate…

Opponents of vertical integration of the pork industry claim that it would degrade the environment, hurt consumers and allow big companies to profit from the sweat and toil of family farms.

However, proponents of the change believe it will have almost entirely the opposite effect, enabling companies to compete more effectively in a global market by providing consumers with a variety of products. Researchers at the Heartland Institute also have found that animal waste is easier to manage in confinement facilities than on pastures where it potentially can be washed off by rainfall into surface water and or leached into groundwater. Also, they point to the vertical integration of the beef industry, where manufacturers were able to add 490 products within the last 10 years.

One other finding: Contract hog production raises total productivity by 20 to 23 on average and by as much as 50 percent.

Health-Friendly Restaurants

Mounting public concerns about obesity and its related health problems have prompted the nation’s restaurant industry to render its fare more health-friendly.

Testifying before Congress recently, the restaurant industry’s top lobbyist, Lee Culpepper, weighed in with his industry’s views on the complex issue of childhood obesity and what can be done about it.

"That is why the restaurant industry has taken steps – market-driven steps – to add even more menu items, many of which are lower in fat, calories or carbohydrates, to accommodate and respond to consumer demand," added Culpepper. "This is nothing new. The industry has long prided itself in having a wide variety of menu items that fit into a healthy lifestyle for children and adults."

Meanwhile, the nutrition watchdog Center for Science in the Public Interest, in what it considers an "historic first," lauded Ruby Tuesday’s, a national restaurant chain, for providing fat and calorie information on its menus.

"By doing that, by saying it will add some more healthful foods, and by its earlier decision to fry in a trans-fat-free cooking oil, Ruby Tuesday stands head and shoulders above its competitors when it comes to nutrition," CSPI nutrition policy director Margo Wootan said in a statement.

Too Darn Fat

“We’re just too darn fat, ladies and gentlemen, and we’re going to do something about it,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, announcing plans for a nationwide campaign to encourage Americans to eat less and exercise more.

The campaign will offer lighthearted, constructive criticism to combat what is widely described as an obesity epidemic.

Roughly 400,000 deaths in 2000 were attributed to poor eating and physical inactivity --- a 33 percent jump from 1990, according to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study.

As Close As The Keyboard

Conservation planning soon may be as easy as e-filing tax returns.

USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service Chief Bruce Knight has announced a partnership with John Deere Ag Management Solutions to provide conservation planning software tools for producers and technical service providers.

"This partnership will help NRCS expand its capabilities and meet the enormous demand for conservation," Knight said. "This tool-called Conservation Plug-In-will enable producers to complete certain activities electronically, similar to e-filing tax returns. Not only will we see an increase in efficiency as part of the Administration's e-Gov initiative, but also an increase in the number and quality of conservation plans."

Farm Industry Adapts To New EU Biotech Rules

The nation’s farmers are gearing up to comply with new European Union regulations governing the sale, labeling and approval of food and feed produced using biotechnology.

The National Corn Growers Association will convene a Traceability and Labeling Conference in Washington, D.C., on March 9 to discuss the new provisions.

The EU rules are expected to take effect on mid-April.

Bound To Happen

Given the spike in obesity rates that have occurred within the last few years, it was bound to happen: Obesity is close to passing smoking as the most preventable cause of death.

"Obesity is catching up to tobacco as the leading cause of death in America. If this trend continues it will soon overtake tobacco," said Julie L. Gerberding, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which conducted the study.

If current trends continue, obesity will become the leading cause by next year, with the toll surpassing 500,000 deaths annually, rivaling the number of annual deaths from cancer, the researchers found.